After an accident, it can be hard to handle the pain that comes with your injuries. Many doctors prescribe painkillers to make the pain more manageable so that people can live their lives more comfortably.
Unfortunately, many painkillers are very addictive and people often become addicted to them accidentally. If you have been prescribed medication to treat your pain, use the following guide for tips on how to decrease your chances of becoming addicted to them.
Research the Drug Thoroughly
Before you start taking any medication, you need to do thorough research so that you can know everything there is to know about it. You need to know if it will interact with any of the other medications you take. There are some medications that shouldn’t be taken with pain pills because it makes them not work as well as they are intended to do.
You also need to know if you are supposed to eat when you take the medications to prevent yourself from becoming nauseous when the drugs kick in. You also need to know how often to take the drugs and in what doses to ensure that you don’t take them too often or take too much of them at each sitting.
Talk to Your Doctor About Side Effects
When you take any medication, you need to talk to your doctor about the potential side effects. There are times when the side effects for certain medications can seem worse than dealing with the issue they are supposed to treat.
If a side effect arises after taking the medication, being able to identify that it is a side effect will give you peace of mind because you’ll know what the source of it is. If the side effects become too severe, you need to let your doctor know so that he or she can put you on different medications.
Keep Your Medications Secure
You need to be sure that you keep your medications out of the hands of those that shouldn’t have them. Secure prescription pain pills in a safe if you think that there is any chance that someone else will take them.
You also want to be sure that children can’t accidentally gain access to them because it could lead to an accidental overdose.
Track When You Take the Medications
There are many people who chose to only take their medications when they feel pain. They don’t follow a strict schedule because they assume that they will never take them more frequently than they are supposed to. This isn’t always the case, though. There are many times when people can build up a tolerance to the medications and end up taking them more often.
It’s best to keep track of when you take the medications. Setting a reminder on your phone can be a great way to make sure you don’t take the drugs more often than you should. You will know exactly when the pills are supposed to be taken and avoid any guess work through the day.
Seek Alternative Forms of Pain Management
A huge mistake that many people make is to rely solely on their pain medication to treat their pain after an accident. This creates a dependence that can be hard to overcome. It’s better to instead seek alternative forms of pain management so that you can learn how to manage the pain on your own rather than simply depend on medication to numb it.
Physical therapy can be a great way to treat pain after an accident. You can learn different exercises that you can do to strengthen areas that were injured and stretch properly to decrease the pain that you feel. You can also monitor your progress with professionals so that you can make sure you are making strides toward a healthier and happier you.
Chiropractic care is also another great pain management tool at your disposal. Chiropractic care has been shown to be able to help minimize stiffness in injured areas and promote blood flow which can make injuries repair themselves at a rapid pace. Acupuncture could also be a great tool to use because you can release toxins from the body while having your muscles relaxed.
Talk to Your Doctor About Weaning Yourself from the Drugs
If you don’t want to be on the pain medication for the rest of your life, you need to start weaning yourself from it as quickly as you can. You want to be sure that your pain reaches manageable levels before stopping, but you should talk to your doctor about getting off of the drugs as quickly as you can if you want to minimize the chances of you becoming addicted to it. The longer that you are on the drugs, the more likely your body will become accustomed to having it in its system and the more you will crave it.
The object of weaning your body from drugs is to slowly allow it to adapt to life without the medication. You start off by taking smaller doses of the medication less and less frequently until you are eventually able to go without taking it at all.
You don’t want to live your life in constant pain so be honest with your doctor about the way that you are feeling so that he or she can help you come up with a pain management strategy that best suits your needs.
There are many people who have been in accidents that have had their lives changed forever. They experience pain on a regular basis, but manage it with acupuncture, chiropractic care, regular massages and great diet and exercise plans.
You need to build a routine and stick to it so that your body can feel as great as it possibly can and so that you can avoid an addiction to prescription pain pills. You can become addicted within a very short period and getting off of them as quickly as you can is important.
If you feel that you have become addicted to the medication and cannot stop taking them on your own, find rehab centers you can go to for help.
At the facility, you can be given medications to help minimize the pain you feel during the detox period. You can get the psychological help you need to overcome the addiction, as well. It will take time, but overcoming your addiction the right way can better your chances of staying clean for good.
